Summer Lopez

Summer Lopez (Bluesky – LinkedIn) is PEN America’s Interim Co-CEO and Chief Program Officer, Free Expression. She has been with the organization since November 2017 and has overseen PEN America’s advocacy, research, and programming in defense of free expression in the U.S. and globally. Since November 2024, she has served as interim co-CEO. Lopez has worked to advance democracy and human rights in the nonprofit sector and in government, including for eight years with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and three years with The AjA Project, a San Diego-based nonprofit providing participatory media programming for immigrant and refugee youth. Her commentary on free expression issues has been cited widely, and her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, TIME, The Daily Beast, and the New York Daily News. She has lived and worked in Zimbabwe, Egypt, Nepal, India, and Ghana, and holds a BA from Harvard University and a master in public affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.